The Dreamer’s Heart Wishes
by The Lady of the Willows
Summary: Keladry has an accident while riding. She finds her old nemesis much changed while in a coma. KJ :::Complete:::


The Dreamer's Heart Wishes  
  
Written by: The Lady of the Willows  
  
Details: One-Shot  
  
Summery: Keladry has an accident while riding. She finds her old nemesis much changed while in a coma.  
  
Pairing: Kel/Joren  
  
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The hard rain pounded against her cloak and her ears hurt. Keladry of Mindelin once again bemoaned her foolishness at attempting the dangerous trip on such a stormy night. Lightning flashed, illuminating her still brown eyes. The winding mountain path was steep and unpredictable; she was brought frighteningly close to cliff edges and unbending trees. The fluttering anxiety in her stomach would not go away. She had only had only been a knight for a few months, and neither she nor the small skittish horse were equipped for this perilous journey. Still, she had had little choice in the matter. Neal would be disappointed if she were not at the palace for the Midwinter Celebration. Kel could never bring herself to disappoint her longtime friend.  
  
"Come on, Anwennes," she urged her mount. "You can do it!" Anwennes was a new horse that she had gotten only the day before. Eager to try out her new steed, Kel had decided to take Anwennes on her journey to the palace. It was a hasty decision that had been made, and she feared both for her life and that of her mare.  
  
Suddenly, loud thunder boomed across the sky and not two seconds later, lightning struck a tree beside Anwennes. Anwennes panicked and neighed. She lifted her forelegs up, trying desperately to avoid the deadly white lights that seemed to have veered towards her. Before Kel knew what was happening, she felt herself tumbling over painfully, off of Anwennes. Kel was certain she was going to die. Darkness consumed her conscious being, and she went to a dream.  
  
Kel opened her eyes and squinted against the soft brown light that greeted her. The ground beneath her feet was cracked and parched, with a few sad plants straining through the forgotten earth in a valiant effort to reach towards the strange sky. The desert surrounding her seemed completely arid, save one or two sere gnarled trees every few yards. Before Kel was an unfamiliar sight: a twisted mass of black clouds as far as the eye could see with a magnificent structure at its center.  
  
What could it be? Her hazel eyes shifted to the ground as she studied the cracks of the earth. She had tried to think of this as a dream, as a young girl's creative method of escapism from a harsh reality. What could she call it now? For there it stood before her, as real as the blood she barely noticed dripping down her face. A strange feeling of nostalgia passed over her as she wished for a moment that her friends were with her in these questionable surroundings. It was accompanied by the thought that something was missing. something that she very much needed right now.  
  
Then she noticed him. His back was to her, but all the same she could tell that he had not changed. His tall frame and light-colored hair stood out against the dim evening sky, somehow managing to belong and be unique at the same time. His pose was lazy but aware. He knew she was here, and Kel could not help but picture the smirk that she knew he had on his face. A single gloved hand rose from within his black cape and beckoned her forward.  
  
Kel's blood began pounding in her ears. Some remote part of her wanted to go to him, but she could not. He was the boy who had haunted her nearly every day for the six years she had known him. He had filled her life with strife. He was dangerous and lovely. This both attracted and repelled her. He always had disliked him, and she was not going to yield to him now. Feeling oddly as if she were ripping out her own heart, she made to turn away.  
  
"Don't." The single word was uttered softly but firmly--- the request of a lover. Kel's heart beat faster. She was filled with loathing as she remembered how miserable he had made her life. How dare he demand something like this of her! Was he the one that had been wronged? Certainly not!  
  
"I will not come to you, Joren," she replied forcefully. "In case you've forgotten, you have no power over me."  
  
"Is that so?" he asked amusedly.  
  
"He is so dangerous," she thought to herself.  
  
"You're correct, Kel." She gasped at the sudden feeling of his hot breath on her ear. "I am dangerous. However..." He paused and gently trailed a gloved finger down her arm. She could not stop her eyes from fluttering closed for a moment. "...such things are trivial in circumstances such as these." He placed a gentle kiss on the side of her neck.  
  
"What circumstances are those?" She felt him smile against her skin.  
  
"You know," he responded matter-of-factly. Kel grit her teeth.  
  
"No, I do not." His arms came to wrap around her waist.  
  
"Do not you?" he whispered in her ear. "After all these years, you still deny me? You still deny yourself of your passion?" She gasped at his words and he suddenly broke away from her. She forced herself to turn around and face the boy-turned-man whose enmity she had once gained. Joren gazed at Kel sadly through his blue eyes, looking more defeated than Kel had ever seen him. Unable to stop herself, she stepped forward and brought her hand to his cheek, running her fingers over his features as if verifying their existence.  
  
"Joren, I..." He closed his eyes.  
  
"Say it again." At her puzzled silence he opened his eyes and looked at her. "My name. Say it again." Kel's heart began to ache terribly. She shook her head, but left her hand where it was.  
  
"No, don't think that way. I didn't mean it, not like that."  
  
"Like what?" he queried. "Like you acknowledge that I am a person? A person with wants and needs like any other?" The pain in his eyes belied his calm tone.  
  
"We both know that you are no longer human."  
  
"No, I am not anymore. I did not claim to be. Does it repulse you?"  
  
"You are not real!" she shouted. Her stone face had cracked. Tears ran down her cheeks as she continued to trace the contours of his face with her fingers. "You are not a human anymore. You are not alive! For years I've tried to convince myself that you are, but you and I both know that it's not true. You are not true!" He put his arms around her so that her head rested against his shoulder.  
  
"Keladry..."  
  
"No! No, no, no, no!" she sobbed. "Please, no more. Do not put me through this, Joren. I could never choose you." Joren recoiled from her words as if stung, but kept his firm hold on her.  
  
"I see," he said cooly. She looked up at him sorrowfully.  
  
"No you do not. You do not understand all that I would lose by choosing you- -- my dreams--- over reality. I cannot afford that."  
  
"What if there's nothing to lose anymore?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"What if you had nothing to lose and everything to gain by being with me? Would you choose me?" She cringed.  
  
"That's not fair."  
  
"Are we back to those principles, Kel?" His tone was only slightly amused.  
  
"You know what I mean. I cannot answer that question. I do not know the answer myself. I have so much to live for."  
  
"You had better figure it out then, hadn't you?" There was an uneasy silence.  
  
Then, Kel spoke to her secret love again. "I do not understand," she whispered softly. She was not sure she wanted to understand anything anymore. The intoxicating and spicy scent coming off him was making her delightfully dizzy. That and his warmth, combined with the knowledge that she would have to leave him, was making her chest burn.  
  
"Tell me this, then." He placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back slightly so he could meet her eyes. "If you had a choice between living there with nothing, in pain, and living with me, here in the realm of death and dreams, would you wish to stay?" The answer was out of her mouth before she had time to stop and think.  
  
"Yes." Joren of Stone Mountain smiled, the first true smile Kel had ever seen on him. He lowered his face to hers.  
  
"That is good enough for me. Welcome home, my love." Kel's eyes widened.  
  
"What? But, Jor---" Then his arms were around her in a tight hug. She could no longer hold herself up for she was surprised by her own answer that was so hastily said. Then, a swirl of colored lights grasped her mind. She yielded to the calm demeanor of the lights. And gasped as she faded away to make her final disappearance known.  
  
In a bright room, several people stood by a young woman's bed. Her cold skin was had tints of crimson that was the remainder of some blood that the healer had left behind while hastily cleansing her.  
  
Duke Baird entered. He spoke quietly to the room of people. "She may survive, but chances are slim. If there was anything you want to say to her, it should be said now."  
  
Just then, the battered girl's eyes flew open and a small smile curved at her lips.  
  
"Quick, remove the mask! She looks like she's going to say something!" exclaimed Owen. The doctor hurriedly obeyed the order, but the girl's eyes drifted languidly shut the next moment in a peaceful manner. The room of people quieted immediately to hear her final words.  
  
One word escaped her lips before her heart stopped completely.  
  
"...Joren..."  
  
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What do you think of this tale? It was a random idea that came into my head suddenly. 


End file.
